Life of A Rural Manager

What is unofficial tagline of Brand Rural Management Programme at XIMB : “We Try Harder”

A quick question is fired by an aspirant, “Why does anybody ever want XIMB-RM as first choice in admission ?”

Yes, we all know that “XIMB-RM is only No. 2.”

Yet the reply is simple: “We try harder in nurturing our budding rural manager because we have to make a point. It's always the second ranker who works harder and learns a lot more in the process.”

The origination of the answer is not to create a cute, gimmick, but instead it was – and is -- a business philosophy that every XIMB-RM students holds true. Each and every student of rural management knows that he must work harder and learn extensively than their counterparts. XIMB - RM focus on frank and truthful statements about our ranks and education philosophy. This institution is a Sangam (confluence) where we seek to find balance between mainstream business and development of people on margins.

As I write this, I'm enjoying cool breeze of Vagator beach, Goa with a chilled beer. Actually, that’s not the true case at all. I'm sitting in a small room with bare minimum facilities at Gajapati district during winter internship. I assumed before joining XIMB that I can handle the weather of Odisha. Rarely, it rains mildly with a romantic weather. Its always either a dull humid weather or heavy rains. Nothing weakens Superman like Green kryptonite, the humidity acts same way here draining all energy! For once, we can wish cool weather every day (yes dear XIMBians, We all love Bhubaneshwar weather :X)! To add to that rigour were other matters like bad food (very very important). We love cuisine like Night-mess ka roasted chicken to X-cafe ka garlic chicken soup.

Arbeit macht frei is a German phrase, literally "labour makes (you) free". The slogan is known for having been placed over the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust, but that should be put on the entrance of this place. Yes, life is not so cool here. Time is a scarce commodity in this place. Yet, one can see endless usage of time in various activities. People still have the spirits to involve in various Committees, quizzes, games and X-Walks. But this is a thing about XIMB: you rarely get time for yourself. Even the whole 24 hours seems to be exhausting, tiring and even suicidal as it can sometimes get, I don't think any of us would want it any other way.

When Rural India wakes Up at 5:00 AM only then our rural managers stop their interactive chatting sessions and start dreaming of liberal days of graduation. 15 minutes before beginning of the class, get you Ass Up Fast is the call from the beloved lazy neighbor. Even then, 9 out of 10 Rural managers are firmly grounded on their bed. Such is the start of the day and the forecasting of whole saga of two years can be made on this start.

There are not only Intelligentsia, Devil's Advocate, Activist, Salesman and Social workers but also Mamas, Chachas, Night-Owls & Free-riders present in each batch. There are people here who provide a lot of joy whenever they leave the room. While one or two are such masterpiece while everybody was drinking from the fountain of knowledge they only gargled. Yes, there are superstars who gives solid evidence of halo effect. Some of ours species can even argue with a signpost but there is one with whom it's hard to believe he beat out 1,000,000 other sperm. I fall in the category of rural managers who set low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them.

Before a layman goes on a trip, one may want to read more about the history, the people, the landscapes, and the present political and cultural situation of the destined place. That is the pedagogy of academics for rural manager. Donor Mentality, CSR activities, Development tourism, Caste based business, deep poverty, top down approach of government, rehabilitation policy etc ... we were mentored for two years to question authority and yet develop leadership traits.

Our alumni travel across India and are ease with corporate office as well as a tribal community in a remote region. That sets us apart from our colleagues in India. We have our internal conflicts like how we will integrate development (not sure what it meant then) with surging profits of the company. We know both about CK Prahlad and P Sainath. P Sainath who? A question that is asked too frequently from the rural managers.

And we learn in two years : For India, reality bites. But Lage Raho India, dream on! Business Managers are good Hegelian. They have a good theory, forget about the reality. Hence, the author has chosen to become rural manager. Yes, I will be saying golden jargons in the end : We all have a deep love for 'sustainable development' of all 'stakeholders'.

Notice: This was a draft written long ago treasured in archives of the blog for unknown reason. It's been like 8 months since I last wrote in one flow. I am throwing a glimpse of life of a rural manager tailored at XIMB.

Convocation @ XIMB

On Monday, March 25, 2013 at 6.00 P.M. we had our 22nd Convocation. Shri Jaspal Singh Bindra, Executive Director and CEO-Asia, Standard Chartered PLC of Standard Chartered Bank Ltd. came as the Chief Guest. I finally convocated from the Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar(XIMB). The degree of rural manager was awarded not only in letters but also in spirit. It will be impossible to say when so many of us will gather at the same place again. May be in upcoming 10- 15 years ! This could not have been achieved without emotional support and confidence by my parents, Prem bhaiya, Chandan, Shreyash, Abhishek and college friends like Gaurish, Gautam, Anshumani, Partha, Abhijeet etc.

As an overpriced assets, we all are out of the walls of the college campus. I suddenly understand why values like humility, sincerity and honesty are more important than qualities like intelligence and achievements. A person's most useful asset is not a head full of knowledge but a heart full of love, with an ear open to listen & a hand willing to care.

In coming times, we will be busy in work and burdened with more loans (namely House, Car & Personal). When a person has the single most important thing in life - choice, then one is empowered. As a student receiving quality education from premier institute, this degree has given me a basket full of alternatives. One has choice either to become brick of the foundation or finished top of the dome. I wanted to be an innovator rather than copy-paste machine. I just like to end by quoting thoughts of two eminent personalities -

"A teaching university would but half perform its function if it does not seek to develop the heart-power of its scholars with the same solicitude with which it develops their brain-power. Hence it is that the proposed university has placed formation of character in youth as one of its principal objects." ~ Mahamana Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya, The Founder of Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.

"Students who acquire large debts putting themselves through school are unlikely to think about changing society. When you trap people in a system of debt . they can't afford the time to think. Tuition fee increases are a “disciplinary technique,” and, by the time students graduate, they are not only loaded with debt, but have also internalized the “disciplinarian culture.” This makes them efficient components of the consumer economy." ~  Noam Chomsky, an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, logician, historian, political critic, and activist.

Sparsh: Development in a Trimester of rural management - 2...

Sparsh: Development in a Trimester of rural management - 2...: Continuing from the 1st part of the Development series in RM , I will move towards the 2nd part of the learning in the field of Rural Manag...

29th Week @XIMB

29th Week - 25th December to 31st December

25th December-  A day dedicated in the library for preparation of the upcoming exam.

There is an inspiring talk by Pradeep Kashayp, CEO & Founder, MART at a TEDx event at Hyderabad (on 'Creating an Endearing Organisation - The MART story'.



He been advocating entrepreneurship courses for the business school and I taught courses in XIM- Bhubaneswar in 1993 called ‘Start your own business’. XIMB was the second institution after IIMA which had this course. Now most of the B- schools have entrepreneurship courses.

MART had also developed 3M model that is an innovative approach to initiating micro enterprises based on the three tenets of micro finance, micro markets and micro planning.

I was also reading about legendary management thinker Peter Drucker. In a 1984 essay he persuasively argued that CEO pay had rocketed out of control and implored boards to hold CEO compensation to no more than 20 times what the rank and file made. What particularly enraged him was the tendency of corporate managers to reap massive earnings while firing thousands of their workers. "This is morally and socially unforgivable," wrote Drucker, "and we will pay a heavy price for it."

26th December- PROJM end trimester paper is over.

27th December- ITM end trimester paper is over.

News of the Day - Developed by XIMB, PRIASoft is a model accounting system that will be used for maintaining accounts at panchayat samiti and zilla parishad levels. One more feather in the cap of XIMB .....

28th December- MEARS end trimester paper is over. I read three impressive quotes while going through the study material provided by the faculty.

Creditors have better memories than debtors. - Benjamin Franklin.

How can you expect somebody who's warm to understand somebody who's cold ? - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

'Inflation is like sin: every government denounces it and every government practises it.' - Sir Frederick. Leith-Ross, Observer 1957.

29th December- SRM end trimester paper is over. This website helped me a lot in understanding SRM. The question paper was difficult but good in the material.

30th December- RPLS end trimester paper is over. I was busy playing "Age of Mythology" till the morning of next day.

31st December- It was a hibernation day for me. With upcoming of the new year, I am not so enthusiastic in joining the bandwagon of the celebration.

One couplet dedicated to billion of honest Indians on the eve of new year !

‘मैंने अदब से हाथ उठाया सलाम को, समझा उन्होंने इससे है खतरा निजाम को।

चोरी न करें, झूठ न बोलें तो क्या करें, चूल्हे पे क्या उसूल पकाएंगे शाम को।’

- ‘अदम’

This was the the last week of 2011. A year of struggle, love, joy and failures had just completed and the journey to new experiences is awaiting me.

28th Week @XIMB

28th Week - 18th December to 24th December

18th December- I again visted to the same village with more bonding and enthusiasm. While talking to villagers, I was overwhelmed by their efforts to overcome difficulty of credit, regular income, irrigation and education.

Despair is frightening at this situation when you love the people but placed in the system you despair of. Farmers were poor but they were trying to cope their life with dignity and hope. They have been cheated on the development projects before and still they were helping us with full enthusiasm. They are to be admired not pitied.

The field part of RLLE was over. This one month experience was a memorable one. I felt strongly that the strength of India lies in the resilience of poor not the money power of Indian middle class. Without the support of such agricultural workforce, the great Indian middle class bubble would have busted long back.

I finished remaining day work and started journey for one day documentation on the tourist spot of Gopalpur beach. We reached pretty late in the night. Recalling his previous experiences at Pradan, MM told us about nature, trekking, development and sustainable livelihood schemes.

19th December- I walked in the morning on the beach over to 2 km enjoying morning breeze at the seashore. We started to document and draw a lot in much more detailed manner for project report early in the morning. We left to Bhubaneswar from Berhampur city bus station. It was a 5 hours journey covering 170 KM.

20th December- Our group of four visited Dr P.S.Sivakumar at CTCRI for taking feedback on the rough draft of our reports. He talked openly about exaggerated figures and planning aspect of Indian government. He was equally critical of the government bureaucracy and blind following of  Robert Chambers and Johannes Hubertus Den Van Broek by our academics in the field of rural development. I didn't agree with all but lack of faith in original homemade solution is an old age problem for India.

I also visited Toshali National Crafts Mela 2011 exhibiting near our college at Janata Maidan, Bhubaneswar. Incredible Odisha, Incredible India !!!

21st December- I was congratulated by Chandan Raut for the selection as an intern in State Disaster Management Authority of SGGPA during summer 2012. It was 12:02 AM in the morning. SGGPA (School of good governance and policy analysis) is situated at Bhopal, M.P.

I am waiting for the return of other students to listen their stories of rural India. There are dark circles around mine eyes and dark shade on the face. This tour has affected health little bit.

22nd December- IRMA results has been declared and this year cut off is quite low. People are inquiring a lot about XIMB RM 2012-2014. There is a fair of chance of having only 60 seats in PGDM-RM 2012-2014 batch as we are not shifting to new campus. The quality of entrants will be much better this time around due to entrance through IRMA/CAT/XAT.

I am paying a lot of money for this course – so focusing less on grades, and more on learning but there is no preparation of the 2nd Trimester examination and have fair chance to grab lower grades.

23rd December- I was talking to many guys returning from the rural hinterland of India with one month of experience. Lot of youths of our generation including me neither had any idea earlier and nor do we care how other people live and struggle for their daily livelihood. It was an eyeopener for all of us. In some cases, the prevailing corruption had killed the enthusiasm of mine colleagues interested in the developing Bharat. Most of us has our heart in the development but inadequate money and educational loan comes as major constraint early in the career.

While I may grudgingly respect the enemy, I have nothing but contempt for traitors. The pseudo development and bureaucratic forces have shown their corrupt nature in implementation of various schemes. We generally admit that there was lot of work done for the poor in the last twenty years due to Panchayati Raj, RTI and liberalization of Indian economy. Even the disparities between rich and poor has increased, a lot of fund has been made available for various government projects. And yes there is lot of need of rural managers and rural developers in the country.

One of our Professor had actually lived like a wanderer and stayed into the wild. He is a bit difficult customer for students but he has gained respect from me today.

24th December- There is a positive air in the batch and a lot of confidence after this one month of rural stay. There is sudden springing of maturity and professionalism among the individuals. There is nothing more satisfying than the growth of the peers and friends.

I read and even bookmarked a fantastic piece of article - What to do during your MBA ?

27th Week @XIMB

27th Week - 11th December to 17th December

11th December - PRA done at Hinjerpenth at Nandapur block in Koraput district. Progress is an illusory term used in the development projects. That was the crux of the learning that I got working there.

12th December - PRA done at Renga Village in Simliguda block. This village was a prosperous one and caste division was visible to an outsider also. There was great difficulty for us in gathering people come from all hamlets together for FGD (Focussed Group Discussion). Me and MM were also misjudged initially as the agents of mining companies during survey. We have to clear our project mission and our background to them for tuning.

13th December - The remaining PRA tools were applied at Renga Village in Simliguda block. A lot of information was extracted in excess of our project to get an overview of the people mindset and village level conditions. Still, I was very careful in not giving any sort of political overtones in rapport building process.

There was a buzz in our mind to understand about Naxal problem. I concluded at the end of day that the Naxal problem had arose due to the continuous exploitation of the tribal people by the government, money lenders and middleman. It's a shame to realise that we people never stand up for the rights of those whose political views and social norms  we find disagreeable. And the apathy of many bystanders is also major stakeholder in the rise of Naxalism, Corruption and Fundamentalism in India.

I clearly understand that powerlessness can corrupt as insistently as does power. The desperation of poor tribal people lead them towards arm uprising. There is some sort of rationalizing of violence in us humans also. We student of rural India also overlook the structural violence that exist in the society in our analysis. The caste, religious and class conflicts are ground realities that shapes the path of economic development of any region. Now, I appreciate the work of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Binayak Sen, Deep Joshi and Medha Patekar much better in this frame of reference. Even when one can't help them physically yet healers like them empower people spiritually.

14th December - We reached Berhampur railway station in the morning and hired a cab for Chandragiri block at Gajapati district. We visited Taptapani on the way, that is famous for its hot springs. It is nestled at about 1,800 feet (550 m) above sea level. Our work at Gajapati district kicked off.  In 1963, about 600 Tibetan refugees arrived in the southwestern Orissa hill country of Gajapati, in a fertile valley known as Chandragiri. We stayed in the Tibetan Guest house there. We started working in the Chudangpur village of Chandragiri block with a brief meeting.

15th December - Our selected village have only Christian tribal people. All the households were converted to Christianity some forty years ago. With pumping of the foreign money for missionary activities and rise of Hindu fundamentalism, I personally fear that there is a chance of  riot situation in the future. I met two persons from Ministry of Home affairs in the Dhaba that night. Suddenly, I felt like living in an anarchy in my own country.

16th December - I roamed around Jeerang settlement and a small waterfall near it. We spotted two armed naxalites on our route to village in full day light. While working and roaming around there forced me to revise ours myopic narratives about nationhood, civil society and religion in the popular media and textbooks.

I left Gajapati in mid noon for Ganjam District. We passed through Aska, the place which has the 1st Sugar factory in Asia. The landscape was open and full of agricultural fields on both sides of the road. I reached Bhanjnagar block in the night. Biju Patnaik belongs to Village- Nuagam, near Bhanjanagar only. He once famously stated that 'Orissa is a rich state where poor people live'.

There was brief encounter with Police sub-inspector as we were non oriya outsider in a crime prone and naxal affected area. We tackled the problem quite diplomatically.

17th December - I was working in the field at Dhodapali of Jaganathprasad block. Visit to the field for the identification of Key Informant. The selected village was a poor and rainfed area.

26th Week @XIMB

26th Week - 4th December to 10th December

4th December - I attended the meeting for the assessment of our RLLE project at CTCRI Bhubaneswar. We were well prepared but the data was in hard copy. Overall, a good show at the end of the day. We are advised not to interfere in the political and caste problems of the village/region.

I read about Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act in Swaminomics article by economist SA Aiyar as it is related to the recent political heating of proposed Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the fast-growing retail sector.

5th December - The whole day passed in the training of the Community Participatory Rural Appraisal (CPRA) tool at CTCRI. The training was of 3 hours but the financial estimation for next 15 working days took a lot of the time.

6th December -  I didn't go to the training due to a cold and lack of sleep.

I am reading, again and again, an article 'Youthpal bill' by Rashmi Bansal who is making emphasis on us to live our dreams, not others. As per my view, one should venture into realizing their dreams only when one is strong enough to take the blows. Yet, the biggest training that any of us can get in life is a failure. I had seen hard days recently that I will never forget, but wish not to repeat them again. But each rejection has given me a reason to improve and look for their causes. The ability to never give up mixed with hard work and a positive attitude can even change fate.

7th December - It was a holiday given by the organization to us. I invested the holiday in sleeping. Currently, I am reading through a lot of talk about FDI in the retail sector. Here is an article in this detail. Economics Journal: Who’s Afraid of Wal-Mart?

There is an opening of the PGDM (RM) program through IRMA/CAT/XAT from this year onwards. CAT exam has been included this year to widen the talent pool for applicants. It's a good investment for the future of rural management programs. XIMB 2012-14 Admission has opened its PagalGuy page for the related queries long back on 26-08-2011.

I am happy with the academic program and learning environment of XIMB. It is a mix of theory and practice and involves a focus on real-time projects. Yet, I had hesitation to invite any IIT/NITian to join rural management unless his/her heart beats for rural India. To quote Mahatma Gandhi – ‘waste is a resource in the wrong place’. I am in the right place as per my capabilities.

8th December - Today, there is a Foundation Day Lecture by Shri S. Gopalakrishnan, Executive Co-Chairman, Infosys. I will be missing the show as I have to catch the train in the evening for my field trip.

My work would be based at Koraput, Gajapati and Ganjam districts that fall under Red Corridor. For novices of Indian political reality, the Red Corridor is a term used to describe an impoverished region in the east of India that experiences considerable Naxalite communist insurgency.

9th December - I reached Koraput in the morning accompanied by fellow students (MM, CK, KK) and Dr P.S.Sivakumar, Scientist at CTCRI(Central Tuber Crops Research Institute ). We visited Nandapur block for the identification of Key Informants and appropriate arrangements for the next two days.

10th December - We visited Hinjeripent village at Nandapur block early in the morning. A transect walk was done for PRA analysis. A lot of data was extracted with the help of our Oriya speaking cab driver and the local person working at OTELP (Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihood Programme).

25th Week @XIMB

25th Week - 27th November to 3rd December

27th November - I changed the old costly hotel to a cheap one. Lot of Condoms
were previously used in the room when it was cleaned in front of me ! I learned that Cigarettes, Liquor and Tea have strong sales distribution network. It was an off day.

28th November - There is no photo taken in the field trip of poverty and hunger as I didn't want to glamourize the poverty. I am travelling between mountains and rice fields. Tobacco chewing is seen in both gender.

There is unavailability of mobile network of airtel and vodafone . Only BSNL and Reliance has better outreach here. Accessibility of mobile network is there ;to block level and ;on highways only. There are no signals at GP (Gram Panchayat) level. Naxal affected block is identified for risk mitigation in the data collection through unofficial sources.

29th November -Government officials are cooperative but the pace of work is quite slow here. The brand name of XIMB works as people are impressed by the name of 'Jhabier'. Going through government records gave me creepy feeling that even data and stats are white lies but a vital ones.

30th November -I was doing household listing today in some block. There is lack of irrigation facility in Koraput region. There are household that have literally had nothing to survive. People eat Raagi here when rice crop fail.
Some people even don't know the name of their forefathers. It shows somewhat lack of history in tribal area. The villages were deep inside and far from highway.

1st December - I covered Koraput block today. This is more prosperous than its neighboring blocks. I took a train for Bhubaneswar in the evening.

2nd December - I reached Bhubaneswar and took a day off from any sort of work or study. Hearing bitter, harsh and cool stories of initial phase of RLLE of my friends.

3rd December - Off-day for work. Given a lot of thought about MBA and learning curve !

Reading without reflection is like eating without digestion. The same indigestion is happening to me. When will I read all the study material? One never knows. The worst bit is one does not know where to seek improvement in daily routine. It feels as one is doing masters in backlog management. The point of all the academic activity is not to score marks but to inquire. I am unable to comprehend the complete picture of this 2 year MBA education today.

24th Week @XIMB

24th Week - 20th November to 26th November

20th November - I woke up early for SKYPE meeting with a scientist at IPC. There were classes on Sunday. RMAX election. The election revealed one more basic fact about group behaviour. People don't like monopoly of a subgroup in a close community. The popularity meter affects the deserving candidate due to democratic nature of the elections.

21st November - Not selected in Summer Internship of another company after GD round. I need to improve my communication skills and a lot of introspection is needed in the career strategy.

One job opportunity was told to us by our program coordinator : PMRDFs. The Ministry of Home Affairs has identified 60 districts of the country as Left Wing Extremism (LWE) districts. The Government of India has launched a special programme in these districts called Integrated Action Plan (IAP). PMRDFs (Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellows Scheme)will basically function as development facilitators, they will assist the Collector and his/her colleagues in each of the IAP districts and provide them with the necessary analysis of situations and how they should be handled.

22nd November - Ours presentation in SRM class was postponed. I read an excellent article about Innovation. The DNA of Innovation: The DNA of innovation is an idea. Nothing happens until someone has an idea.

23rd November - RLLE orientation started in CIP, Bhubaneswar. I am going to Koraput. This project is about root tuber crop and food security.

'Cotton for my Shroud' is a documentary on farmers' suicide. It is very useful, to discuss what is plaguing Indian agriculture and to create debates around what needs to be done now.

Cotton for My Shroud



It captures what's going wrong in Indian agriculture in general and Vidarbha in particular - gambling with cotton, wrong technologies, Bt cotton, expensive seeds, crop failures, increasing costs, indebtedness, villages like Dorli near Wardha up for sale, anti-farmer trade policies, suicides nay genocide, agitations and firing on farmers, market machinations, the callous attitude of elected leaders etc. etc.

24th November -  Most of the fellow students had left for RLLE. Hostel is vacant and felt like a deserted place. My train is at 7:35 PM to Koraput.

25th November - The day was passed in the preparation of the trip. Many people were leaving the college for RLLE trip. I got the train for Koraput at evening. I was suffering from fever and cough.

26th November - The Pace of the life is too slow in Odisha in comparison to UP also. I will not call it lethargy as that is described by my friends here.

I reached Koraput in the morning. Koraput is a small place with lot of government offices. Transport Service charged very high price and our stay was provided at very very costly Hotel Lemon Castle at Semiliguda block of Koraput district. There was no hotel available at main district headquarter due to by-election in the neighboring district. I traveled around 120 Km with public transport on the day of arrival only at Koraput. It was tiring and long day!

23rd Week @ XIMB

23rd Week - 13th November to 19th November

13th November : Sunday evening with Lucky Ali. A happening end of the leisure day.

14th November : "A person's a person, no matter how small" - Dr. Seuss, author. I learned this lesson today but don't remember where.

15th November : We presented CCD (CAFE COFFEE DAY) in marketing class and comes unscathed of any negative criticism. ADM lecture was good. Most stupid questions are those that are never asked. It was a really good quote from Gaurish Manerkar.

16th November : People don't know how to use mail. That can only I say now on public forum. Otherwise a regular day.

17th November : It was last class of ITM and PROJM. A happy end of trimester is coming soon. Learned about Brian Wasnik and Duncan J. Watts.

Duncan J. Watts (born 1971) is a principal research scientist at Yahoo! Researcher and the author of the book Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age. I am producing here his famous article in Harvard Business Review- Viral Marketing for the Real World by Duncan J. Watts and Jonah Peretti

Brian Wansink (Ph.D. Stanford 1990) is the John Dyson Endowed Chair in the Applied Economics and Management Department at Cornell University, where he directs the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. Wansink is best known for his work on consumer behavior and food and for popularizing terms such as "mindless eating" and "health halos." I am putting up here the weblink of Mindless Eating for surfing.

We were told about MacArthur winner Sendhil Mullainathan and how he uses the lens of behavioral economics to study a tricky set of social problems — those we know how to solve, but don’t.

Sendhil Mullainathan: Solving social problems with a nudge



29 People of XIMB RM batch have gone together for the movie RockStar. Good break from routine!

18th November : What people here usually called USP (Unique Selling Proposition), it has got better name. Its called PVP (Personal Value Proposition). Build Your Personal Value Proposition is a good blog article by Bill Barnett who led the Strategy Practice at McKinsey & Company.

Kiva - The Pedro Story: A story of how a small loan from you can change the life of a family.



Rural Development is an area where rural managers are launched into battlefield with a service revolver to face AK 47. The overall participation on the basis of merit is quite low in the nature but the problems of development are much complex than any other industry.

19th November :  I was sick today. ADM quiz was a disaster.

Sheena Iyengar studies how we make choices -- and how we feel about the choices we make. At TEDGlobal, she talks about both trivial choices (Coke v. Pepsi) and profound ones, and shares her groundbreaking research that has uncovered some surprising attitudes about our decisions. Thanks to Jeevan Sir for this talk.

Sheena Iyengar: The art of choosing

22nd Week @ XIMB

22nd Week - 6th November to 12th November

6th November - Sunday. SRM lecture is missed . There was good news that I am shortlisted for interview of MSME.

There was election for core place-com committee in the evening. 5 hours of marathon and participatory process was over with 22 candidates (14 Voluntary and 8 at the moment). Politics inside the branch has started officially.

7th November - Interview for MSME was not much satisfactory. But I studied a lot about Clusters of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and livelihood generation through Cluster Development.

M S Swaminathan Research Foundation is doing good work in the area of hunger and food security. As per there Vision : A society where everyone has access to food and nutrition security. And Mission : Ensuring food and nutrition security of vulnerable sections by empowering them, by promotion of focused interventions, by capacity building of various stakeholders, and by research and advocacy.

The ‘Report on the State of Food Insecurity in Rural India’ is prepared by the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation with support from the United Nation’s World Food Programme (UNWFP).The Report is in two parts. The first part examines the status of food and nutrition security in Rural India. Ranking of States based on their status has been done using seven indicators, viz., population consuming less than 1890 Kcal, access to safe drinking water, sanitation facility, women with anaemia, women with chronic energy deficiency, stunting in children and children with anemia and comparison made between two time periods. The thrust is on outcome indicators. The second part of Report examines the major public food delivery systems – Public Distribution System (PDS), Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and Mid-Day Meals Scheme (MDMS). The Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) has led to exclusion of large number of needy poor. The Report recommends a return to the ‘universal PDS’ that existed till 1997.

An idea about OMFED struck into my mind. I discussed the feasibility of the idea with Gaurish. In the same ADM lecture, we were told about hostile world and effects of missing deadlines.

8th November - There was no study for MEARS test. Interview for core Placecom committee takes place. I was not selected for core Placecom. I was disappointed a bit but life goes on.

A manager should have both bird's and snail eye view for observation. A good lesson learnt about fallacy of the jargon oriented MBA program.

9th November - I was neither selected in SIP of MSME foundation not shortlisted for Birla Tyres. I missed out last MEARS class where there was emphasis given by faculty that we are students of rural management, not rural development.

There was presentation on Kudumbashree by Mr. Nair. Kudumbashree : prosperity of the family, launched in 1998 is women oriented and community based State Poverty Eradication Mission of Government of Kerala. The programme has 37 lakh members and covers more than 50% of the households in Kerala. Built around three critical components, micro credit, entrepreneurship and empowerment, the Kudumbashree initiative has today succeeded in addressing the basic needs of the less privileged women.

I am embedding here the youtube video whose small section was shown in RPLS classroom.

World Economic Forum: East Asian Solutions for Global Food Security



10th November Launch of EXPRESSION and various games committee involved.
There was case discussion on Custom Car Care by Anne M. Martin, John F. Graham. This comprehensive case provides an opportunity to cover the entire marketing framework and is particularly useful to demonstrate a break-even with a profit level.

I was also part of marketing team for game Kurukshetra. Kurukshetra stands tall as the prodigy behind Xpressions and is one of the flagship events which can proudly boast about its rich legacy of the past 16 yrs.

11th November Finally XPRESSIONS started. There was CONCLAVE- a panel discussion in the morning. Harish Bijoor and Rita Soni were invited guests. Harish Bijoor run a private-label consulting firm that specializes in Brand and business strategy and teaches Rural Marketing at ISB Hyderabad. I am putting his blog profile for the reference. Ms. Rita Soni is CEO of NASSCOM Foundation. Her detail can be found on the website of NASSCOM Foundation. Alas, I missed the event as was busy in a meeting at CGIAR Orissa for RLLE.

12th November : A day of relaxation and sleep. A rarity in the life of Jhabier student.

21st Week @ XIMB

21st Week - 30th October to 5th November

30th October: The Mid-term exam is over and the whole day has passed in watching movies and roaming around. I read a good quote today from C K Prahalad that states: Executives are constrained not by resources, but by their imagination.

All Aboard The Slave Ship: An open letter to Young India, callous and comfy in its cocoon.

31st October: Winters and studies post mid-term have started. I have been allotted Meghalaya for RLLE (Rural living and learning experience) and hoping to see the true picture of BHARAT vis a vis India.

My CV was also not shortlisted for a summer internship at TERI, hence, I was quite disappointed today. Hoping for a new start. Gaurish, Partha, and AP give much moral support to overcome this grief.

An old Interview with students of PGDM-RM students (Future Rural Managers)

1st November: Apple's Think Different advertising campaign. 1997-2002 re-consolidated my conclusion that thinking differently and independently is the ultimate path of growth.

There was mention of noble laureates Elinor Ostrom and Paul Krugman in marketing class. Elinor Ostrom's speech and Paul Krugman's speech at the Nobel Prize ceremony are linked to the common good . As a budding rural manager, one should know a little about the works of Elinor Ostrom.

She was awarded the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, which she shared with Oliver E. Williamson, for "her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons." Ostrom is considered one of the leading scholars in the study of common pool resources (CPR). In particular, Ostrom's work emphasizes how humans interact with ecosystems to maintain long-term sustainable resource yields.

As per the advice of faculty teaching ADM course, two types of abilities are needed to get a premium over others. One is our ability to relate and learn, other is our ability to forecast the future.

2nd November: I missed MEARS lecture for SRM assignment.

Our Human Behavior can be predicted by laws of Mathematics. It was a revelation for me despite having an engineering background. Heard about Sheikh Maktoum and Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry (Phantom of Bombay House) in ITM class for the first time.

3rd November: Learned much from below two study materials and one short video.

McKinsey & Company - The 'bird of gold': The rise of India's consumer market: If India continues on its current high growth path, incomes will almost triple over the next two decades, and the country will climb from its position as the 12th-largest consumer market today to become the world's 5th-largest consumer market by 2025.

McKinsey & Company - India's urban awakening: Building inclusive cities, sustaining economic growth : India has a young and rapidly growing population—a potential demographic dividend. But India needs thriving cities if that dividend is to pay out. New MGI research estimates that cities could generate 70 percent of net new jobs created by 2030, produce around 70 percent of Indian GDP, and drive a nearly fourfold increase in per capita incomes across the nation.

Food and You:

This animated story journeys through the broken food system and then looks at the transformation that is already underway to bring about change. It brings it back to you, the individual at the root level, and invites you to be part of the movement to grow a better future.

To learn more about Oxfam International Youth Partnerships, visit the website here: http://oiyp.oxfam.org.au/

4th November: Today, the Programme coordinator of PGDRM proposed to send students next year to understand farmers' crisis in different places (In 16 years, farm suicides crossed a quarter million). He also encourages all students to understand local issues in great detail, irrespective of the given location. This step is inspired by IIM students to study ‘crop holiday’ villages. (The much discussed ‘crop holiday,’ declared by the farmers in East and West Godavari districts has drawn the attention of IIM Ahmadabad agri-business management students.)

Milton Friedman on Libertarianism and Humility: Human freedom is inextricably bound with tolerance. As Milton Friedman argued (see the video), the foundation of libertarianism is tolerance. (Fantastic 43 minutes long talk especially for the critics of Ayn Rand).

5th November: It was a day that lasted with 5 lectures. The most happening discussion was done in ITM class on Snacko India Limited: Leveraging Trade. Promotions for Competitive Advantage by Sajjan Raj Singhvi, Rajat Gera.

There was also a brief discussion on the case study of SEWA Union: Organising Bidi-workers. Book Download Link. Ela Ramesh Bhatt is the founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association of India (SEWA).

20th Week @ XIMB

20th Week- 23rd October to 29th October

23rd October: Learned about TSCR (Trend, Seasonality, Cyclicity and Random)

24th October: An Introduction to Livelihood Promotion : Traditionally the solution to the problems of poverty was conceived as an increase in income levels through the generation of employment. However this vision has changed in the last two decades. This publication shows how it is possible to promote livelihoods as a means for poverty reduction.

One cannot feed the hungry on statistics - David Lloyd George

MEARS- 85 % of savings accounts and 60 % of current accounts act as fixed deposit.

RPLS- Muhammad Yunus : Poverty was not created by the poor. There is nothing wrong with these people. They are just as capable and inventive and have as much potential as others. The system simply never gave them a chance to grow. If you really want to solve poverty you should enable people to take matters into their own hands.



25th October: Didn't recall events of today. I read an interesting statement by Gopal Vittal, Executive director for home and personal care at Hindustan Unilever on Indian market - Don’t Bet Your Money on India, Bet on its States. Only states that excel in the quality of human capital and infrastructure, rate of private investment and have a smaller government will attract more business.

26th October: Diwali Holiday ! Celebrated with harmony, joy and lot of fun. Students were looking more like human than machines after a long time.

27th October: I was told about Toolkit Break-Even Analysis tool in Marketing class. HBS (Harvard Business School) Toolkit Break-Even Analysis :Marketers studying the launch of a new product or service use break-even analysis to help determine at what point the product or service can be expected to be profitable. This downloadable interactive workbook, one of several workbooks/ tutorials from the HBS Toolkit used by Harvard Business School students, is designed to help calculate a break-even point or target-profit level based on the fixed costs, variable costs, and unit price of the product or service being analyzed.

28th October: MEARS mid term exam.

29th October: FSA mid term exam.

19th Week @ XIMB

19th Week- 16th October to 22nd October

16th October : One fine day is Sunday. Still post Gramotsava, there was 2 hour session on EQ & Leadership. I learned that there is always lack in abundance.

17th October : The whole day just passed away. I did't think any productive work was done today. Still I was able to read one good article :- Ph.D. Thesis Research: Where do I Start? Notes by Don Davis, Columbia University.

18th October : FSA quiz was a disaster. Missed Kuru meeting and slept quite early at night. Since, I was roaming out in the morning, soft skill training session was also missed.

Rediscovered Facebook Page of India - Rural Livelihoods.  For implementing the inclusive growth agenda, it is crucial to prop up agriculture, the soft underbelly of our economy. The National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) should take charge of dry-land farming now by Ramesh S Arunachalam.

19th October : Alumni Talk was given by Mr.Patnaik. He is a rural management program pass-out of first batch. He has expertise in banking, insurance and micro-finance sector.

1- XIMB started one year Post Graduate Diploma Program in Rural Management for the graduates and NGO members in 1995 which was upgraded to the two year PGDM (Rural Management) programme from 1999.

2- Before entering in the corporate sector, one must ask -: How am I going to build my career ? Package of the placement offer is not necessary but selection of right sector. Work in the organization for atleast 2 years is necessary to build a robust professional network inside the company. This time duration helps in getting an overall picture of the company and sector. Hence, One should do cost benefit analysis before switching over to another company.

Catch : Its easy to switch from corporate sector to development sector rather than reverse phenomenon.

3- And there was once a lot of RM-XIMB versus IRMA debate but it has now cooled down.

Last but not least, customer retention is more important than customer service in banking sector. Huge investment is needed in human resource for any company to sustain and grow in the long term.

Case study Analysis:

Harvard Business School: "Inside the Case Method" -1




Harvard Business School: "Inside the Case Method" -2



20th October : There was case discussion on TI cycles whose diagnosis were done by four different professors in this paper at Vikalpa, The Journal for Decision Makers that is a quarterly publication of the IIM-A. It ends with the profound quote by Thomas Edison : I am more of a sponge than an inventor. I absorb ideas from every source. My principal business is giving commercial value to the brilliant but misdirected ideas of others.

When India marketeres in trouble, they pray to rural markets - Prof. Mithileshwar Jha, Marketing IIMB . I learned about dumping and tariff  in ITM class and quoted brilliantly in PROJM class to Gaurish - Things are interesting when you take interest in it.

At a lot of times, economics and formal education is not everything. I found one more evidence in support of this. In Rajasthan, India, an extraordinary school teaches rural women and men -- many of them illiterate -- to become solar engineers, artisans, dentists and doctors in their own villages. It's called the Barefoot College, and its founder, Bunker Roy, explains how it works. Sustenance with existing resources is the crux of his talk.

Bunker Roy: Learning from a barefoot movement


There was soft skill training conducted by Placecom today. I attained mock interview session & it was quite effective. Lesson learnt but not sure about it :- One has to build/fake success stories while presenting in MBA interview.

21st October : Day was passed in academic activities. One good case study was done in Prof Peepin's first class about MEADOW and Titan Industry. This case study can be found in (Page 75-86) of Livelihood Manual Book [Download in PDF Format] . An alternate reading material :- Corporate Non Profit partnerships - Case Study of MEADOW is good source for details. In 1995, Titan began working with local NGO Myrada. Al Fernandez, the promotor of MYRADA, one of the leading NGOs in the country used to say this :'We (those associated with MF work) need poor for our survival. But the poor have survived generations after generations even without any of these institutions.' Following early successes the initiative was converted into a privately held company run and owned by the women themselves, supported by further technical training and expertise from Titan. The company was called MEADOW (Management of Enterprise and Development of Women). “In a free enterprise, the community is not just another stakeholder in business but is in fact the very purpose of its existence” Mr. Jamsetji N Tata, (Founder, Tata Group)

 22nd October : Complete Day was passed in finalizing PROJM and FSA assignments. Evening time was occupied by Finomics'11. XFin hosted Finomics'11, a national level panel discussion. The theme for Finomics'11 is 'Emerging trends in Risk management'. The eminent speakers for the panel discussion were: Mr. C. S. Mohapatra, Director, Capital markets, Finance Ministry, GoI Prof. Girish V S, Group Editorat BFSI NexT & CFO NexT Dr. K. C. Mishra, Vice Chancellor, Sri Sri University, Orissa Mr. K. C. Samal, Executive Director (Finance), NALCO.

Notes Undertaken -: 1) Every risk has return period. The vulnerability to risk (like effect of hurricane on GDP at Bangladesh vs USA) varies. It also determines the opportunities and threat. Each visionary converts possible risk into the development. 2) "It will not happen to me " is the basic assumption of the people to avoid any investment in the risk management. 3) Even Basel II is not implemented fully in Indian banks. 4) There are three type of people everywhere - EITHER "My Way", "Know it All" and "Let it Go" OR "Taker", "Owner" and "Manager" of risk. 5) What I avoid is 'Let it Go' attitude and record all mine memorable experiences for the benefit of others in the long run. 6) Lot of complicated mathematical models require lot of knowledge that is possessed by only few. All CEO are dependent on the complex mathematical models but unable to understand them. 7) Public Secto company like NALCO gives more emphasis on risk caused by production and environment issues rather than financial matters. 8) Regulator is not the risk operator but only facilitator in mitigating the risk. This was said in the reference for banking sector. But,I found it true for each path of the life and business. 9) Operational risk comes in the term of fraud. Lot of study has been done on this in the field of behavioral economics. 10) Indian bureaucracy has tendency to save its skin by talking/consulting with everybody. Sub Prime crisis at wall street has opened eyes for many to stay alert and engaged in lot of confidence building efforts. [News Link] The Central Government on Thursday constituted the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) under the chairmanship of former Justice B. N. Srikrishna to rewrite and harmonise financial sector legislations, rules and regulations. --- In many industry, Demand forecasting is done through TSCR model (Trend, Seasonality, Cyclicality and Random).

18th Week @ XIMB

18th Week- 9th October to 15th October

9th October: I returned to the hostel yesterday. This week is mostly dedicated to Gramotsava 2011. Today, I checked a newspaper article on Gramotsava 2011 today. XIMB reaches out to masses through fair - Rural management students create a marketing base in nearly 50 villages.

Gramotsava-2011, a rural marketing fair, is organised every year by the Rural Managers' Association of XIMB (RMAX). Thus, rural management students who engage in on-field marketing and data collection supplement theoretical lessons with practical experience. The uniqueness of the event in the rural management course offered in any college

Gramotsava 2011 fair UPDATE

Venue I: Mandarbasta, Khurda, Friday,14th Oct.

Venue II: Chasakhanda, Cuttack, Saturday,15th Oct

10th October: On request of Shruti Thomas, I liked "Sustainable Housing". Suddenly, a moral dilemma arose inside me. Do I like/support the product/service/community because it was made by Jhaberite? If there is an idea branded by an affiliated college and its arch-rival, what will be my choice? Will my decision be based on merit or loyalty?

In the MEARS lecture, SP Das commented: "Every TDH (It's not Tall Dark Handsome !) wants to do MBA without knowing what it offers. Bhubaneswar Development Authority has 9 B schools 5-6 years back and now there are 38 B schools under BDA! This is called the expansion phase of the economy". I find a harsh truth in his words. I am now finding a method in his madness.

In the FSA lecture, PK Mohanty lamented the poor quality of our performance in FR end term. He insisted that wherever possible marks are given for few candidates. I assume each of us is close-minded when it comes to knowledge receiving. And lack of application and reading is the prime cause behind it.

In RPLS, it was the last lecture of Niraj Kumar. 10 lectures of this course helped me to understand the approach towards development. What I observed is that you can't expect a first grader to begin learning arithmetic by tackling differential calculus. Similarly, our batch needs many hours of lectures and field visit to really embrace the spirit of rural managers.

11th October :

There was only one class in a whole day. A day went by reading a thriller novel. I also read The Base of Pyramid distribution challenge: Evaluating alternate distribution models of energy products for rural Base of Pyramid in India; This paper from the Centre for Development Finance (CDF) – IFMR analyzes the product distribution choices available in rural BoP markets to help enterprises evaluate the key drivers of distribution for successful go-to-market strategies.

12th October: There was lively discussion and participation in the class. It was good to see so many people speaking and cross-questioning with the teacher.  

13th October: A day busy in the preparation of Gramotsava. I was busy with a 'live project'. Have taken initiative for becoming POC of 1st years for 'live project'.

Gramotsava launch was too good. Dance and photo sessions were adding charm to the show. There was a temporary DJ session after the launch.

14th October and 15th October: Under the banner of the Rural Managers’ Association of XIMB (RMAX), about 150 students from the first and second-year batches visited two villages — Mandarbasta in Khurda district and Chasakhanda in Cuttack district. The fair was to promote the latest products and concepts of business and social organisations among the village folk. As a flagship event of rural management, Gramotasava is quite unique as through it we examine the mindset of rural consumers.

Hindustan Unilever is the title sponsor for the Gramotsava 2011 with Mahindra & Mahindra as the associate sponsor and Tata Motors the cosponsor. The Telegraph was the media partner for this year’s Gramotsava, which was formally launched last Thursday. Bonnie Bhaina, an olive ridley turtle, was the mascot for the fair.

Travelling on the bus with the complete RM batch was a pleasurable experience. This Gramotasava would be a part of the sweet memories of my XIMB days.

17th Week @ XIMB

17th Week- 2nd October to 8th October

It was a week that I spent completely at home. I was on the offline mode regarding XIMB. Hence, I will put down some videos for learning purpose for rural managers.

Rural Development - The Challenge of Livelihood and Poverty

Although there appears to be an enduring concern with India's poor within the policy circle and in public discourse, is this debate leading to new and innovative ideas on how to pull millions of Indians out of grinding poverty? What is the way forward? Should the emphasis be on skills development, agricultural development, microfinance, market access etc? What other models of rural development do we need to examine?



How to avoid the pitfalls of rural marketing?

PART1

PART2

PART4

PART5

PART6

PART7

16th Week @ XIMB

16th Week --- 25th September to 1st October

25th September : Attended the class of P T Joseph. I shared answers of personal questions in the public. I disagreed with him about the revealing of private data in public. I am gaining guts each day to face down the powerful and say what needs to be said. And I hope that it should inspire introverts and progressives.

Since, I am selected for first round of summer internship for TERI, I started studying for the interview.

Q&A: Clean Energy for India’s ‘Base of the Pyramid’: WRI’s new report, in collaboration with CDF-IFMR, looks at the market potential for clean and renewable energy in rural India.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE : Detail Report in PDF format.

TERI has undertaken an initiative of Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) through the use of solar lighting devices. The Campaign aims to bring light into the lives of one billion rural people by replacing the kerosene and paraffin lanterns with solar lighting devices. In terms of physical targets, it translates into 200 000 000 solar lanterns in use, assuming that each solar lantern benefits five members of a family.



"Movements have always begun with the people and not with the government." ---Arnold Schwarzenegger

Learning : The key issue with rural is 'last mile penetration' for companies and government agencies in general opinion. Poor often pay higher prices than wealthier consumers do for lower-quality goods and services because of uncompetitive markets.

Kurushetra work is going with quite good pace. I am understanding the complete game as a part of marketing team.

On personal note, a lot of blessings to Saumaya and Sonam also for their caring nature :)

26th September : RM is champion in overall sports meet. Rupika Singh is a damn good performer in so many games. Gaurav Anand played really good in cricket winning streak! Truly, Rupika, Partha, Krishanu and Mithelesh are all-rounders in RM 2011-2013 batch whom I look up to and get inspiration from.

I learned a distinct fact about Indian society and media today in the classroom: Urban population takes media more credible than their rural counterparts. Mass Media does not initiate the change, it can maximum accelerate the process of change. Villagers always identify themselves within their reference groups while urban have self perception of iconoclast.

TERI Interview got postponed today. I have done more study on Solar Energy - Bright Idea: Bringing Eco-friendly Lighting to India's Hinterland

The SPIC MACAY Chapter of XIMB organized Western Classical Music Programme : Cello & Classical Guitar performance by Anders Øien & Gustavo Tavares, two of the best classical musicians from Norway.

27th September : Parthsarthy CR got selected for Summer Internship in Sanguine Management Services. TERI interview got postponed even on Tuesday. It was frustrating !

One of the major factors that I like in the development studies : It talks critical about paternalism and dependence. A factor highly overlooked by our mainstream studies ! I observe both pro and cons of RM programme of XIMB. I like XIMB for its nice blend of management and development in comparison to the 'Other' colleges of rural management. Corporate exposure in RM programme can be well marketed as USP for coming years. I don't like XIMB because it highly undermines the potential of the RM programme in comparison to BM programme. Sometimes administration make me feel our batch as the children of a lesser god.

Good News: Association of Indian Universities (AIU) has granted equivalence of MBA for the Rural Management program of XIMB.

28th September : Whenever I write this blog, I get inspired from Milan Kundera, Anne Frank, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Julian Assange.

RPLS : Learning brain does not have apartment for the different subjects. It is the mixture of interconnected information that makes sense.

Indian movies are substandard in the nature. It is just like Indian markets that is fond of substandard products. That is true for the people also who falls like products on the criteria of merit. Even people don't like and feel threatened by the exceptional talent or an outlier in their group/society/class. Kudos to Manu Bansal for raising bars in academics and rest of people will definitely suffer in the long run with this fatalistic approach!

AP got selected for Summer Internship in ABRL(Aditya Birla Retail Limited).  A coincidence of meeting Sachi madam at CCD :)

A look at the students of Pantnagar university in XIMB confirmed a loyalty and bonding factor amongst themselves. It does not promote outliers but work on the concept of gradual change in coming batches. The tradition of respect and the code of conduct at micro level of observation.

There are lakhs of flood Victims in Orissa and were mass participation in Anna Hazare's movement last month. And we were excluded from each of these movement. It appears quite paradox somewhere in the mind. When the world is changing, do educational institute need to force student becoming apolitical and unconcern in nature. But I have put head down to work alone and not to be influenced by group thinking and mass movements. Today, I am opting out enter into this chaos and struggle. Tomorrow I must must and must return, to do what I can for others.

Few of us in the batch are feeling agitated by some issues over transparency and administrative hurdles. A sher by Faiz Ahmed Faiz to commemorate and summarize what is going inside any institute, country and human society.

ऐ ज़ुल्म के मातों लब खोलो, चुप रहने वालों चुप कब तक,
कुछ हश्र तो इनसे उट्ठेगा, कुछ दूर तो नाले जायेंगे |

29th September : There are two quizzes scheduled today. An average performance in both of them. Rafa was admitted to hospital. His medical report is not a sign of good health.

Only few days have deep impact on the course of a life. September 29th is a remarkable day when lasting memories are made. While riding my bike, the wind flowing through my hair has given me a feeling of ecstasy on the September night.

30th September :Discussion in RPLS class : Questions and Answers: Deep Joshi

Sum of capability of our batch in cynical form : Underemployment of sub standard products in the market. Reading capacity of the RM batch is quite low. Best academic institutes create persons with reading capability that gave them a upper hand over their competitors.

There are staunch leftist in the faculty who does not consider market good. Hence, have a quite negative view of the new world. They are not a problem now. The problem of our generation : Persons (in our batch also) who thinks 'Capitalism' as the only way of development. They have no deep analysis and idea of the social welfare, justice, merit and opportunities. They consider 'Merit' as a uni-dimensional tool for the progressive society. Anti protest and positive discrimination policies like reservations appear futile to them. There worldview doesn't consider social factors like social taboos, caste discrimination (now caste assertion) much in the counting. Only through the framework of economic background, they hastily judge everything. Lack of knowledge of social science in students and lack of knowledge of economics in faculty while over-viewing society is apparent as epidemic everywhere. May be my analysis wrong here ! Yet capitalist or communist, most of us are 'western' not 'modern' in the social behaviour.

1st October : It is a start of Dussehra holiday. I am out of XIMB. Hurray !
A good video to enjoy weekend : The 6 killer apps of prosperity: Niall Ferguson on TED.com

15th Week @ XIMB

15th Week --- 18th September to 24th September

18th September - There is complete lack of any participation of student in decding the course structure of Rural Management. Institute like IRMA (Institute of Rural Management) should be named IRDA (Institute of Rural Development); The camouflage of campus placement does not change the mentality of the faculties who push students towards NGO sector. There is call of "bottom-up development" in every rural management programs without being implemented on their own students !

The recording, identifying and acknowledgment of “every casualty of development propaganda” in a rural management programs is an idea whose time has come.

Hope, the rebel voice of mine gets a fruitful result otherwise we all know that the people who produce half a revolution, dig their own grave.

19th September - MEARS : Mischief mongers dig their own grave. Parasite, below poverty line and ungrateful are the words used with full sarcasm by Prof S P Das. But its quite reflection ours lack of clear knowledge.

There is a lot of anger over selection of candidates for Live projects for RMAX (Rural managers' Association of XIMB). Its clear that there is lot of compromise over merit. Few of us have planned to talk to seniors regarding this biased selection process. It is necessary to distinct between participatory and organizational model of RMAX. First round of talks with Shivam failed a general sense of mood of dialouge was initiated. The word 'perception' and 'sop' were

20th September - I don't notice whether it's raining or not today because I was happy for having a coffee on rainy day.I barely managed to finish FR assignment. The task of making a balance sheet of a shop no. 23 of Xavier vendor zone. I understood why no body believes the data given by government.

21st September - There was cancellation of visit to flood zone of mine and Rahul Wahi at the last moment. It was disappointment for me.

In RPLS (Rural Production & Livelihood Systems) class there was a discussion on BAIF and ideas of development by Late Dr. Manibhai Desai. BAIF Development Research Foundation is a professionally managed non-profit Public Trust, established by a noted Gandhian, Late Dr. Manibhai Desai in 1967, to promote sustainable livelihood in Rural India.

I missed the dance deliberately prevailing health reason. I don't know why but I remembered a quite good paper on management.

"Bad Management Theories are Destroying Good Management Practices" by Sumantra Ghoshal, Academy of Management Learning and Education, 2005 Vol. 4 Issue 1, pp. 75–91

22nd September - Average performance in FSA test . But a good joint venture study session with AP. Quite an easy and relaxing day.

23rd September - There was discussion on an article of economic times : Teach People to Fish in RPLS lecture. There is good debate in the class itself on the approach to see poor from market or welfare view.

I feel little low on energy as was not selected for 2nd Round of Sanguine Management Services.

24th September - A sleeping and tiring day for me. Two SRM classes back to back were highly boring. The assignment of EQ & Leadership shows my trait towards : Innovative Leadership and Strategic Leadership.

It is also remembered as a day of gift of a special book :)

Sparsh: Development in a Trimester of rural management

Sparsh: Development in a Trimester of rural management: John Stuart Mill is right here: there is no development, democratic or economic, without an educated citizenry. Hence with this statement, ...

14th Week @ XIMB

14th Week --- 11th September to 17th September

11th September - OB and RDA exams are over. Hence, there is formal closure of first trimester with few assignments.

There is a difference between fresher and experienced student in the college regarding money. While both of them know how to spend money cautiously, the experienced candidate know how to accumulate money little by little for desired product. A pearl of wisdom from Partha.

12th September - One more installment of fees paid with my hard earned money. Missed SRP presentation due to headache. Demand Draft for 2nd trimester is ready.

A special Talk given by Mr. Anshu Gupta who is the CEO of GOONJ (http://goonj.org/).

A brilliant and inquisitive mind, he studied journalism as well as Advertising & Public Relations from one of the premier Institute in India (Indian Institute of Mass Communication), and then went on to do a Masters in Economics. While still a graduate student in 1991, he traveled to Uttarkashi, North India after a major earthquake. Missing out on his classes, he lived in tents for days and helped in the relief efforts. This was his first real exposure to the problems of rural masses in far off parts of the country, something that shocked his urban sensibilities.

He emphasized on the difference between discarding and donating of clothes. To make clothing a matter of concern for Indians is a big leap forward by him. His emphasis on taboo subject of sanitary napkins in the context of India was heart wrenching. We middle and elite class wait for disaster to help people. Why ? Such a tough question was never asked to me in the life. I was speechless at the end of the talk. He has asked some tough questions from himself. Why can't I ?

13th September - Nothing special; Written a general blog post at Sparsh titling : Development in a Trimester of rural management.

14th September - 9-9:30 in the class. Tired and super low on energy level. SRM lecture brushed the concept of paradigm shift and black swan.

15th September - ITM is an interesting. French Fries at Pal Heights are not so good but the com:)

16th September - MEARS and FSA are going out of hand. A team from Wageningen University was in campus on a collaborative project with XIMB. Its focus was on “The System of Rice Intensification as a Socio-Technical Movement in India”

One good video seen today; Economist Yasheng Huang compares China to India, and asks how China's authoritarian rule contributed to its astonishing economic growth -- leading to a big question: Is democracy actually holding India back?



17th September - PROJM and ITM class were just pastime. Re-read a research paper - Rural Management Education in India: A Retrospect by M.S. Sriram.

Talk by Ajit Mohapatra, CMD, Kalinga Engineering Ltd. on Leadership. He started with LPG ( Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization) and later moved to non risk taking capability of public sector and bureaucracy. Government Secretariat was termed as grave of all great ideas !